Water energy has long been used to power machinery and has had a huge variety of applications. Direct force driving pistons as used in steam engines, water wheels turning grinding stones for tool sharpening, milling and driving machinery. Water is clean, renewable and can also be used for cooling as part of the energy process.
There is much work being done in producing sustainable and renewable energy using water. Hydro electric schemes like the Snowy Mountains scheme in Australia finished in 1974 and taking 25 years to complete produces 3756 megawatt (MW) from water generation alone. Yes that is 3756 million watts of electricity.
There are micro hydro systems that are available for small scale supply to domestic
and remote areas. These systems are typically able to operate at around 10 meters
head of water and 2 -
Water based sustainable and renewable energy spans;
- Hydro electric
- Wave power
- Tidal power and
- Geo thermal (where water is superheated by the earth turned into steam and used to spin turbines click here for Geo thermal power.)
